


Sing Us a Song

by damerey_knows



Series: Damerey One Shots 2018 [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Modern AU, Soulmate AU, coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-23
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-03-08 08:41:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13454577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/damerey_knows/pseuds/damerey_knows
Summary: Prompt: If a song is ever stuck in your head, it’s generally stuck in your soulmate’s, too. sO STOP SINGING IT’S A BARBIE WORLD 24/FUCKING7, WHAT ARE YOU, FIVE?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just as a suggestion, you might want to listen to a different song while you are reading this otherwise you'll get the song stuck in your head like I did :)

Rey was tired.

It was one of those days that never seemed to end. Rey hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep the night before - her roommate Rose’s latest foster cat had started screaming at 4:30 in the morning and woke up most of their floor. Then, once she’d finally gotten back to sleep, Rey managed to sleep through her alarm and miss her first class. By the time she finished with her other classes, she needed to study for the fifty exams that seemed to pop up from nowhere. Then she had a long meeting with Professor Skywalker, which apparently just _couldn’t_ wait. And then she had night class. And finally, when she walked out of her last class at nine that night, the end of class coincided with the Cubs game letting out, making her miss two trains already. And, as if to ensure her misery today, it was an exceptionally cold January in Chicago.  

_I’m a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world!_

The song popped, unbidden, into her head.

Rey looked up at the dark sky. _Why_? _Why_ _did this have to happen?_ It was the third time this week. Rey had always been skeptical about the soulmate principle, but, when she was listening to _Barbie Girl_ for what seemed like the millionth time, it just made her want to find and kill whoever was on the other end of whatever connection they had.

An empty train finally arrived. Rey walked into the car and managed to slip into one of the few empty seats.

_Come on Barbie, let’s go party!_

Rey rubbed her temples, trying to stave off the headache she could feel building.

The stupid song kept repeating in her mind all the way to her stop, and followed her to her apartment. She switched out the books in her bag, then was off to the 24 HR Starbucks three blocks away.

Once she made it to the bustling coffee shop the music was blissfully beginning to fade. However, once Rey managed to get through the line and order herself some caffeine and find an empty table, the song began again.

  _Life in Plastic, it’s fantastic!_

Rey groaned as she pulled out her microeconomics book and highlighter.

_Opportunity costs: – **You can brush my hair** –  outputs are not created out of thin air. We produce them from scarce supplies of fuel, raw materials, machinery, and labor. If we use these resources – **Undress me EveryWHERE!** _

Rey had read that passage three times and could not get through it without the stupid song butting in. Rey leaned back in her chair. She didn’t have time for this, her exam was in two days and she needed to focus.

Suddenly she heard someone humming the stupid song behind her. Turning her head to the side, Rey saw the back of a man’s head. The humming was coming from him, his head bobbing in time with the song playing in her head.

“It’s YOU!” Rey almost shouted.

The man jumped, and turned from his laptop. “Excuse me?”

Rey rubbed her hand over her face. “Sorry, but do you have to be singing that stupid song? It’s driving me crazy.”

His eyebrows pulled together, still confused. “What?”

“I’ve had _Barbie Girl_ by Aqua running through my head for the past week. I haven’t heard that stupid song since middle school. _Why_ the hell are you singing it?”

The man laughed, beginning to understand. His hand reaching up to rub the back of his neck. “Sorry about that, someone at work had it set as their ringtone and I can’t get it out of my head either.”

Rey looked incredulously at him for a moment, before cracking up. “I’m sorry, I’m Rey,” she finally managed between breaths, stretching her hand out to him.

“Poe,” he said, smiling with her as he took her hand.

His touch sobered Rey immediately. She felt pinpricks of electricity running up her arm. Looking up into Poe’s startled face, Rey could tell he felt the same thing.

She smiled at him. “Why don’t you join me?” she said.

Poe’s smile widened. “Alright.” He moved to the seat next to her as she pulled the textbooks to the side.

They went back to work in companionable silence for a little while. Rey couldn’t help glancing up at him every few minutes, catching his eye each time.

“What’re you working on?” he asked after a while.

“I have an econ midterm in a couple of days,” Rey said, rubbing her eyes.

Poe smiled. “Wish I could be of help, but I was an engineering major. I think I got a C in my freshman econ class.”

Rey smiled. “Well, I appreciate the offer.”

_“Cause we are sisters, we stand together._

_We make up one big family,_

_Though we don't look the same._

_Our spots are different, different colors._

_We make each other stronger,_

_That ain't never gonna change_

_We're cheetah girls, Cheetah sisters.”_

Rey fumbled for her phone in her coat pocket. Rose was calling her.

“Scuse me,” she said to Poe before answering. “Hey, what’s up?”

_“Are you planning on coming home tonight?”_ Rose asked.

“Depends,” Rey teased. “Is your cat going to be a little bastard?”

_“Hey, he’s been good all day!”_ Rose cried.

Rey rolled her eyes. “I’m at Starbucks, I’ll be back in a while.”

_“Alright, but let me know when you’re on your way back.”_

“Sure. See ya,” Rey said.

_“Later.”_

Rey hung up and turned back to Poe.

“Friend?” he asked, his expression curiously stiff.

“Roommate. She was just a little worried, I don’t usually stay out this late when I have class in the morning.” Rey glanced down at her phone to check the time. 12:30.

He nodded, the crease between his eyebrows melting away, replaced by a bright laugh.

“What?” Rey asked with trepidation.

“You gave me all that grief about _Barbie Girl,_ and yet you have Cheetah Girls as your ringtone?”

Rey blanched. “In my defense, she works with animals, she is the bubbliest person you will ever meet, and she set it for herself,” she said, ticking her reasons off on her fingers.

Poe was still laughing, shaking his head.

Rey rolled her eyes, laughing along with him.

They sat there for a few minutes, calming down briefly only to catch each other’s eye and crack up all over again.

Rey glanced at her phone again, sighing. “I really should get going.”

Poe looked at her for a moment. “Would you mind if I walked you home? Don’t want my soulmate to get hurt right after I found you.”

Rey smiled, blush coloring her cheeks as she collected her books. “Sure.”

Poe stood up, pulled on his coat, and offered his arm to her. “Lead the way, M’lady.”

Rey linked her hand through his elbow and they walked out into the cold.

They walked at a brisk pace because of the frigid air. Rey used her free hand to pull her scarf up to cover her nose and ears. As they walked to her apartment building they didn’t talk much. Rey was just enjoying being close to Poe, her hand still feeling the electric tingle, fainter through her gloves and his coat sleeve but vividly there.

When they arrived at the door of her apartment Rey turned to Poe and held out her hand. “I think we should exchange numbers. Maybe go for coffee when I don’t have a million other things on my mind.”

Poe smiled and passed her his phone. “I would love that.”

Rey grinned behind her scarf and quickly input her number and sent herself a text to get his. “There,” she said, passing it back as her phone buzzed in her pocket.

Poe caught her hand and raised it to press a kiss against her knuckles. “Sleep well, Rey.”

Rey felt butterflies in her stomach rioting. “Good night,” she managed as he released her hand and she walked into the building.

Rey glanced back through the glass front door, waving to him one last time before entering the elevator. She walked into her apartment to see Rose laying on their couch, watching a movie with the cat laying on her chest.

Kicking off her boots she went to sit on the opposite end of the couch.

“You look different,” Rose said, sitting up and dislodging the cat, who went off to find his water dish. “Good different. What happened?”

Rey told her about the song and how she met Poe. Her cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling.

Rose squealed and threw her arms around Rey. “Oh my God! That’s so awesome!”

“Yeah, it really is,” Rey said. As she spoke her phone buzzed.

_Poe: Goodnight Beautiful._

Rose managed to catch sight of her screen. “Is that him?”

Rey nodded before turning back to the screen and texting him back.

_Rey: Goodnight Ken._

_Poe: That’s not going anywhere anytime soon is it?_

_Rey: Nope :D  
_

Rey bid goodnight to Rose and went into her room. She was still exhausted from the day’s events, and it was rather late by this point. She put her phone down and got ready for bed.

Her phone buzzed one last time she laughed when she saw what he’d sent.

_Poe: Sleep well, Cheetah Girl._

_Rey: <3 _

Rey fell asleep, a smile permanently fixed to her face, and her thoughts of tomorrow blending into dreams seamlessly.  

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, what'd you think? I always loved Soulmate aus so I thought I'd try my hand at one :)  
> \- Jumana


	2. Poe's Point of View

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this took for freaking ever. Life happened. Enjoy :)

Poe had known he had a soulmate since he was fifteen when he’d heard the first strains of a song in a language he didn’t understand loop through his mind for hours on end.

_“Ya 'ana ya 'ana 'ana wayaak sarna alqasas alghariba”_

The bouncy classical music behind the words sounded like a Mozart piece his mother used to listen to on long car trips, but he’d never heard the words were unique; the singer’s velvety voice twining with the notes of piano and violin effortlessly.

The song stayed in his head for the rest of the day. Poe wrote down as much of the lyrics as he could make out in the corner of his notebook; resolving to Google them when he got home that night.

He found the song easily enough. The singer was a famous Arab woman, and Poe listened to some of her other songs as he sat at the computer thoughts racing. Was his soul mate Arab? he wondered. It didn’t matter if they were, but Poe worried. _What if they are on the other side of the world and I never get to meet them?_ A small voice said in the back of his head. Poe pushed the thought aside. If they were soulmates they would meet eventually.

XXX

The one of the next songs Poe recognized a few months later was Shakira’s _Bamboo_. That didn’t help narrow it down at all. Shakira was literally everywhere; the song was playing because of the World Cup. Poe put his head down on his desk, grumbling. He decided then that he wouldn’t try to seek his soulmate out. There was absolutely no way the random songs he’d heard would ever lead him to his soulmate. His parents had been lucky enough to have grown up together, hearing the same songs and learning about each other easily. He wasn’t going to have that same easy solve.

So far his soulmate listened to Arabic, Spanish, English, and French music. He had no idea if the person on the other end of the connection spoke all of those languages or just one, and no way of telling which one.

Poe sighed and turned his attention back to his trig textbook.

XXX

Poe got used to the random songs over the years. He usually didn’t mind the songs that popped into his head, but today he just wanted to pound his head against the desk to see if knocking himself out would stop the thrum of piano picking out the opening to _I Write Sins Not Tragedies_ for the fifth time in the middle of his GRE. The last thing he needed today was Brendan Urie lamenting a doomed marriage.

Letting out a deep breath, Poe turned his attention back to the test, his pen tapping out the stupid beat until they called the end of the test.

XXX

_“I’m a Barbie girl! In a Barbie world!”_

Poe groaned. “Really, Pava?” he called across to her desk.

Jess looked up from her phone screen and smiled widely at him. “Yes…”

Poe stared at her stubbornly, unwilling to break their stare off.

Jess’s smile turned mischievous and taunting. “Because…”

Poe continued to stare at her, one eyebrow raised.

“Because she’s a Barbie Girl!” Snap sang out from behind Poe.

“In a Barbie World!” Jess joined in, laughing.

Poe groaned and put his head down on his arms as their voices swelled with what was, objectively, one of the most annoying songs in the history of mankind.

“C’mon, Dameron,” Snap laughed as he threw an arm around Poe’s shoulders. “You know you love it.”

Poe glared at him before pointedly turning back to his laptop.

XXX

Poe hated that stupid song.

It’d been a week, _seven days_ , since Jess’s stupid ringtone turned into an impromptu karaoke session around his work station and the horror of a song was still rattling around in his head.

Poe sighed as he walked from the office to the nearest Starbucks, intending to sit there until he’d made some progress on the project he was supposed to report on in two days.

As he waited in line for his coffee he found himself swaying to the beat, unconsciously. Sighing he got his coffee and found a place to sit. _6:00,_ he thought, _I can finish this in three hours._

_Life in plastic! It’s fantastic!_

The next time Poe looked at the clock in the corner of his screen, it was quarter to ten. The coffee shop had a steady smattering of college students trickling in and out all night, the room never seemed to empty quite fully. There were only a handful of tables that ever remained open.

Poe gripped his hands together and stretched his shoulders out. Leaning his head from side to side to loosen the muscles of his neck, he caught a glimpse of a pretty woman walking through the door. Okay, pretty was an understatement in Poe’s opinion. The girl was beautiful, even if she looked like she’d had a long day. She had short brown hair tucked under a gray woolly hat, and her cheeks were pink from the cold and covered in freckles. Poe couldn’t quite make out the color of her eyes from this distance, but something about her rattled through to his core.

Poe sighed and turned back to his laptop. Judging by the way she picked up her coffee and sighed into it, she probably wouldn’t welcome him bothering her. He tried to focus back on the program he’d been working on but some corner of his mind had registered that she’d taken a seat at the table behind him.

His attempt to focus had only brought the stupid song to the forefront of his mind. Not that it had gone anywhere, but Poe had managed to be distracted enough for a few moments before he remembered the atrocity of the “tune”. He managed to get a few more lines of code worked out over the next hour or so. Everything in him trying to keep his attention away from the woman behind him and banish the song.

He was just saving his most recent draft of the program, and might have been humming under his breath, when a voice shouted be hind him, “It’s YOU!”

Startled, Poe turned in his seat to see the woman staring at him, accusatorily. “Excuse me?” he asked, at a loss for words.

The woman scrubbed her hands over her face, pushing back some of the hair that had fallen in her eyes. “Sorry, but do you have to be singing that stupid song? It’s driving me crazy.”

“What?” Poe asked, more perplexed than before, a thought nagging at the back of his mind.

“I’ve had _Barbie Girl_ by Aqua running through my head for the past week. I haven’t heard that stupid song since middle school. Why the hell are you singing it?”

Poe’s eyes widened and he let out a surprised laugh. “Sorry about that,” he said, his hands fidgeting with his hair, feeling the back of his neck grow hot. “Someone at work had it set as their ringtone and I can’t get it out of my head either.”

The woman gave him a blank look for a long moment before giggling. “I’m sorry,” she said, a little breathless from the laughter. “I’m Rey.” She offered her hand for him to shake.

“Poe,” he said, his hand taking hers as if on instinct. Her hand felt like it had electricity coming off it, vibrating with energy that shot straight to his chest and took root there while he slowly shook it twice, reluctant to let go.

She looked up from their joined hands to meet his eyes and smiled. “Why don’t you join me?” she asked.

Poe’s heart beat hard twice before he managed a word. “Alright.” And he gathered his laptop and coat and transferred them to the empty chair next to Rey’s.

Poe couldn’t work. No matter what he tried, he couldn’t keep his gaze off of her for long while she poured over her textbook. She caught him staring a few times, blushing brightly each time when he smiled at her.

He couldn’t stand the silence. He wanted to know more about her, sue him. “What are you working on?” he asked.

“I have an econ midterm in a couple of days,” she said, sitting up and rubbed her eyes.

“Wish I could be of help, but I was an engineering major.” He said with a wry smile. “I think I got a C in my freshman econ class.”

Rey smiled, her eyes shining. “Well, I appreciate the offer.”

They both jumped when a song started playing from her coat pocket.

_“Cause we are sisters, we stand together._

_We make up one big family,_

_Though we don't look the same._

_Our spots are different, different colors._

_We make each other stronger,_

_That ain't never gonna change_

_We're cheetah girls, Cheetah sisters.”_

Rey’s hand darted for her pocket and pulled out her phone. “Scuse me,” she apologized before answering. “Hey, what’s up?”

Poe tried his best not to eavesdrop, but it wasn’t like she was being quiet.

“Depends,” Rey teased. “Is your cat going to be a little bastard?”

 _Was this someone she lived with? Was she seeing someone?_ Honestly, Poe wanted to murder that stupid, little voice in the back of his head.

Rey rolled her eyes. “I’m at Starbucks, I’ll be back in a while… Sure, See ya.”

Rey smiled at him again as she hung up.

“Friend?” Poe asked, carefully. He really didn’t want to come off as an asshole, and he had no right to intrude on her personal life. If she had a boyfriend he wouldn’t try to impose himself on her, no matter what fate said.

“Roommate,” Rey replied. “She was just a little worried, I don’t usually stay out this late when I have class in the morning.”

Poe nodded, the curiosity sated for the moment. Then he realized what he’d heard and laughed.

“What?” She asked, cautiously.

“You gave me all that grief about _Barbie Girl,_ and yet you have _Cheetah Girls_ as your ringtone?”

Rey’s mouth opened and closed three times before she managed to say something. “In my defense, she works with animals, she is the bubbliest person you will ever meet, and she set it for herself.”

That didn’t erase the mirth from Poe’s face, but she didn’t seem too put off by it as she rolled her eyes and joined in.

Once they'd calmed down Rey looked at her phone. “I really should get going,” she said, gathering her books up in her backpack.

Poe stared at her for a moment before closing his laptop. “Would you mind if I walked you home? Don’t want my soulmate to get hurt right after I found you.” _Why did you call her your soulmate? You’ve scared her off! She’s never gonna talk to you after that, you colossal idiot!_

The blush rose to her cheeks and she ducked her head a little. “Sure,” she said quietly as she pulled her coat on.

Poe stood up and did the same, before offering her his arm. “Lead the way, M’lady.”

The way Rey’s small hand fit into the crook of his arm made his heart soar. He wanted nothing more than to be near her, to make her laugh, to see her blush when he complimented her or teased her. Half an hour into meeting this woman and he was already so far gone that it was beyond ridiculous.

The January air bit into the exposed skin of their faces as they stepped out onto the street. Poe saw her pull her scarf up to cover her face while they crossed the street from the corner of his eye. He wanted to tell her not to, he wanted to stare at her face for as long as she’d let him, but he also wanted to get her home in one piece; preferably without catching hypothermia.

It didn’t take long to arrive at her apartment building. _Imagine_ , Poe thought, _you’ve been working six blocks away from your soulmate for the last six months and you didn’t even know it._

Rey rocked back and forth for a moment on the first step of the building. “I think we should exchange numbers,” she finally blurted out. “Maybe go for coffee when I don’t have a million other things on my mind.”

“I would love that,” Poe said, smiling while he dug his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it.

Rey quickly typed in her number before passing his phone back to him.

In a moment of impulse, Poe caught her hand and raised it to his lips. “Sleep well, Rey,” he said, staring into her eyes as he lowered her hand.

Rey blinked rapidly, her face still flushed from the cold seemed to grow a shade darker. “Good night,” she said, before turning to walk into the building.

Poe watched her wave at him before disappearing into the elevator. He let out a silent laugh once she was gone. He pulled his phone back out and hailed a Lyft while he stood on her doorstep, giddy with the realization that he’d found his soulmate. _He’d actually found her._

Once he was in the cab, he stared at her number in his phone. Shaking his head he sent her another quick text. _Goodnight Beautiful_

Her response was quick, and cheeky. _Goodnight Ken_

Poe groaned. Of all the songs that could have been stuck in his head when he met his soulmate, it had to be that one. _That’s not going anywhere anytime soon is it?_ He sent back.

_Nope :D  
_

Poe rolled his eyes at her reply. If that was the game she wanted to play, he could take it. _Sleep well, Cheetah Girl_.

_< 3_

XXX

The next morning Poe dropped a box of chocolates off at Jess’s desk as a thank you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The songs that Poe heard before he met Rey:
> 
> [Ya Ana, Fairuz](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjIdXqNeaDk)  
> [Bamboo, Shakira](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynGzSJ828Yo)  
> And Of course [I Write Sins not Tragedies, PATD](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc6vs-l5dkc)
> 
> Let me know what you thought <3 Shout out to [Draco_sollicitus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draco_sollicitus/pseuds/Draco_sollicitus) for giving me feedback <3  
> -Jumana


End file.
